


no less unthinkable

by badethics



Series: in the pines (where the sun never shines) [3]
Category: K-pop, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Gen, M/M, Organized Crime, POV Outsider, Police Procedural
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 06:56:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16739218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badethics/pseuds/badethics
Summary: After the murder of Judge Sihyuk, an underground war breaks out over the city, and Seoul MPA Detective Park Jimin is forced to re-evaluate exactly where his loyalties lie.





	1. Chapter 1

_I am who I am._  
_A coincidence no less unthinkable_  
_than any other._

— Among the Multitudes, Wislawa Szymborska

 

* * *

 

Jimin doesn't want the case.

He works homicide these days, sure, but he can already tell that this particular case is going to be bad news from the moment it lands on his desk. The manila folder has a post-it note stuck to the front of it, _Seungho wants you to look into it personally_ , and there's a thick stack of bills wedged inside. Yeah, Jimin is on the take, and he's not ashamed of it, but he's also got a good head for when and where he should get involved. This murder is no ordinary crime of passion. It's the opening shot of war.  
  
"Judge Bang Sihyuk," Jungkook says when Jimin hands him the case notes (the stack of won stashed carefully into his laptop bag). "Was a close, personal friend of the mayor, I see." He raises an eyebrow at Jimin, because he knows exactly why it was given to him and not some of the other, more senior detectives on the squad. Jungkook's too clean to take money from the Chois (or anyone else for that matter), but he's willing to look the other way as long as Jimin doesn't let his moonlighting gig get in the way of solving crimes. Most of the crusaders, the clean cops who have issues with how dirty all the rest of them are, wash out quickly, usually out of creeping cynicism and their own frustration. Jungkook is far too smart to wash out quickly. Jimin's always liked that about him.  
  
"No sign of altercation or struggle, shot five times in the back. Then he bled out over the carpet of his office," Jimin says, leaning back in his chair. "Clerks found the body in the morning." He tries to find a pen, but there's too many old papers, new mail, stacked books for him to dig one out. He needs to clean his desk soon.  
  
Jungkook studies him for a moment. "Fun," he says, neutral. "You've really been impressing them if they've got you working on it, hyung." He doesn't usually do this, try to probe into Jimin's personal shit, but Jimin is rarely asked to do work for the Chois when doing investigations. He's been so good at keeping that separate.  
  
Jimin sighs. "Forensics already called in. We should get to the scene." No matter what he feels personally about this case, he knows he needs to do his job.  
  
Jungkook nods, but his eyes are still searching. "I'm driving," he says before Jimin can protest, grabbing the keys off the desk.  
  
*  
  
The courthouse is swarming with uniforms and some stubborn reporters when Jimin and Jungkook get there. Most of the relevant clues are tagged: the splatter of blood against the windows and walls, the outline of the body on the ground, the murder weapon placed helpfully on the desk, wiped clean of prints. Jimin really wants a cigarette, but he quit right after university. His mother wouldn't stop sending him links to websites about how bad it was for his health.  
  
The office is filled with pictures of Sihyuk's wife and kids. The carpet was cleaned sometime in the past week. His desk is neat and well-kept. There's a stack of files beside his name plaque.  
  
The body is already long gone, on its way to being delivered to the coroner. There are a few people trying to trace the ownership of the gun, but Jimin doubts they'll find anything. Sihyuk was mixed up in one of the mayor's latest initiatives to 'clean up the streets,' which was more about getting rid of the competition rather than making any actual attempt to reduce the amount of crime in Seoul. Some of the competition must have decided that they wanted Sihyuk dead.  
  
Jungkook starts interrogating the beat cops who arrived on the scene first, trying to piece together a rough timeline of when the shooting had happened. The room is occasionally lit by the bright flash of a camera and filled with the crackle of radios. Jimin doesn't even need to look closely at any of it to draw his conclusions. He already knows who did it. All Jimin is trying to do now is find the evidence to pin it on them.  
  
They stay there until lunch time, but nothing else in the office works as hard evidence. There aren't any incriminating tracks in the blood. No fabric caught in the corners or a strand of hair. The coroner confirms that the time of death was between 9PM and 11PM the night before. The wife corroborates the fact that Sihyuk had a late meeting that night, though he has no idea who he was meeting with or why. It's marked off in the judge's calendar, but there aren't any notes attached to the meeting. It's suspicious in and of itself, but everyone understands why a man like Judge Bang Sihyuk, with the important and powerful friends he has, wouldn't want to have all his meetings at times when they'd be interrupted.  
  
Jimin makes a half-hearted pass around the scene, but he doesn't come up with anything useful. Jungkook grabs the stack of files, looking to see which mobsters had a vested interest in killing Judge Sihyuk now.  
  
When they get back to the station, Jungkook starts poring over the case notes, head bent, fingers tracing over photos and phone records. Jimin decides to eat some of the leftover bagels that someone left by the coffee machine. There's no point in following this case all the way to the end. If you know the endpoint, might as well skip all the tiring steps in between.  
  
Jungkook doesn't bother hiding his contempt. "You think it's Min Yoongi," he says. "You're not going to bother investigating this at all, are you?"  
  
"I know it's Min Yoongi," Jimin says. He's the only person with the balls to make an attempt at someone so close to Mayor Choi. The crazy thing is he's probably the only one who could get away with it, too.  
  
Jungkook doesn't look convinced. "Sihyuk was planning on putting a lot of people away. It could have been any of them, regardless of what the brothers might have told you to say." He fiddles with the band of his watch, deep in thought. "No offense, hyung, I really don't care what your orders are. We're not going to fabricate evidence."  
  
Jimin snorts, "You want Yoongi to go down for this as much as I do, especially after –"  
  
Jungkook glares at him. "That's not important, and you know it," he says, with a little bit of a hiss underneath his words.  
  
It's always amused Jimin to know that Jungkook and Yoongi have history. Apparently they hooked up back in college, way before Yoongi decided to become an employee of Mayor Choi. It hadn't ended well, from what Jimin hears. "Sure, whatever," Jimin says. He takes another sip of his coffee and thinks about getting himself another bagel.  
  
*  
  
Choi Seungho shows up at the station just as Jimin is about head home. He's dressed in his finest suit, and he doesn't have his brother in tow. Jimin had been a rookie when he first met the brothers, but he had been young and smart and itching to show off both those qualities. "You seem like you know your stuff," Donghyuk had said, when Jimin had first met him, and Seungho nodded. "We like that."  
  
It had been flattering, to be sure, and Jimin really appreciated the money at the time. Even more than that, Jimin knew the value of making friends with the Chois. Their father runs this town, after all. Their friendship isn't cheap, but it's something worth buying. Jimin's not stupid. He knows what it's like to be in a police force like this. Having the right friends is good for picking up the slack.  
  
"I see you're working on the case," Seungho says pleasantly.  
  
Jimin nods. "We don't have much to go on. These guys made sure not to leave anything." None of Yoongi's men were on Sihyuk's docket, which means they don't have a convincing motive. There's a tenuous connection with one of Yoongi's lieutenants, a Jin Hyosang, but that was years and years ago, way before Hyosang even worked for Yoongi, and Hyosang's body was found in Geumcheon a month ago, an apparent overdose.  
  
Seungho snorts and cross his arms. "But we already knew that, didn't we?"  
  
"Are you sure you want it to be Min Yoongi?" Jimin asks. He's usually only asked to set up small-time crooks, people who would have gone down for something eventually. Yoongi would be a big catch. They need to have an airtight case or Yoongi's lawyers are going to tear it apart. Not to mention Jungkook. They need to have him to be as convinced as everyone else. "It would be easier to pin it on Jung Hoseok or maybe even Kim Seokjin. It'll be almost impossible to make it stick to Yoongi."  
  
Seungho's expression grows dark. He snarls, "No, it has to be that fucking –" before he stops and grits his teeth. "He's the one who needs to go down for this." The Chois are used to getting what they want, and what they want is Yoongi's head on a stick.  
  
"All right," Jimin says. "Yoongi it is."  
  
*  
  
He decides to pay Min Yoongi a visit the next day during dinnertime.  
  
It's sort of a long shot, and by doing this, Jimin is going to show his hand, but he wants to know what he's up against. He doesn't bother telling Jungkook about the trip. Either he'd think it was a bad idea and not want go along with the plan, or he would come along and his previous history with Yoongi would fuck up the interview anyway.  
  
The Min residence is not impressive. It's in one of the suburbs across the river in a middling neighborhood full of huge old houses. If Yoongi had lived there his whole life, Jimin would probably understand why he still lives there, but Yoongi is from Daegu, so Jimin doesn't understand it at all. A nicer person would probably call his house 'modest,' but Jimin isn't a nicer person. It looks like a place that Yoongi moved into years ago and just never moved out of, even after he began to amass a certain amount of power and prestige and money in the criminal underworld. The house is painted a bland white with black shutters. The lawn is well-kept, but there are still stubborn patches of weeds next to the front doorstep. The metal of the doorbell has been worn smooth after repeated use.  
  
Kim Namjoon is the one who answers the door. He's dressed like he's just gotten home from work, the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up to his elbows. "Can I help you?" he asks, smiling politely, dimpling. Jimin is a bit stumped, taking in his open face and ridiculous proportions. It's immediately obvious that Yoongi isn't just keeping the guy around for his brains or money.  
  
Jimin holds up his badge, clearing his throat. "Detective Park Jimin. I have a few questions to ask Min Yoongi-ssi if he's home right now. It's about the murder of Judge Bang Sihyuk."  
  
If Namjoon was pleasantly polite before, he's frosty now. "I'll go get him," he says, leaving Jimin standing alone in the doorway. It's been known for years that the startup cash for Yoongi's operation came from Namjoon, though no one can prove it for sure. Outside of that, Namjoon isn't part of the business, which affords him a certain amount of protection. He gets more protection from being Yoongi's main squeeze, though. Getting on the bad side of someone like Yoongi is never a good idea.  
  
Yoongi is shorter and slighter than Jimin expected. There aren't many pictures of him anywhere, and the few that do exist are blurry or out of date. He keeps a low profile, not nearly as flashy as someone might expect for someone with his presence in the criminal underworld. Jimin had always known he was young, but it's still a shock to see how young he is. He shows up in the doorway by himself wearing what must be his comfort-clothes, a fading _Mastermind_ shirt and pajama bottoms.  
  
"Do I need a lawyer for this?" Yoongi asks. Sometimes when Jimin talks to people like Yoongi, people who know they can get away with anything they damn well please, they'll talk to Jimin with smugness, oozing sleaze and condescension. During one of those interviews, Jimin usually has to stop Jungkook before he puts one of their faces through a wall. Yoongi just looks blank, his eyes completely flat, which is far more unnerving.  
  
Jimin tries smiling, "That won't be necessary, Min Yoongi-ssi. Can you tell me where you were from –" He checks his notepad. "– nine PM to eleven PM last night?"  
  
Yoongi's expression doesn't change, barely even flickers. "I was having drinks at The Henz with a few friends."  
  
The Henz is a bar crawl that Yoongi owns, and there isn't a person inside it who wouldn't corroborate Yoongi's story. Jimin's smile gets tighter. "Which friends would these be?"  
  
Yoongi shrugs. "Jung Hoseok and Kim Seokjin." Hoseok is one of Yoongi's friends from way back. Rumor has it that they used to run together before Yoongi had his somewhat short-lived stint working for the Chois. These days he acts as Yoongi's right hand man and best enforcer. More than one kneecap has his name on it. Seokjin's history with Yoongi is less clear, but he is known to be Yoongi's best wheel-greaser when it comes to making deals with the other games in the town, like the Russians, like City Hall. He's Yoongi's diplomat, as far as Yoongi understands diplomacy.  
  
"Did you know Judge Sihyuk well?" Jimin asks, changing tack.  
  
"I never met him," Yoongi says with a half-shrug. He looks convincing. You don't get very far in the criminal underworld without being able to be convincing when you need to be. And from the looks of things, Yoongi is aiming to go very far indeed.  
  
From inside the house, Namjoon yells, "Are you done yet, hyung?" He sound tetchy, impatient. "Have they decided that you're going to go on a murderous rampage?"  
  
"I don't know. Are we done here?" Yoongi says, a slight sneer in his voice, like he knows that Jimin doesn't have shit on him.  
  
He's right. There's still no way to prove that Yoongi was in the office with Judge Sihyuk that night, though Jimin's gut is telling him that Yoongi was definitely there if only so he could see it with his own eyes. Jimin just nods. "Thank you for your time. You and Namjoon-ssi have a good dinner."  
  
*  
  
Ballistics confirms that the gun found at the crime scene was the same one that killed Judge Sihyuk. They can't find any registration information on the weapon. No incriminating prints show up at the crime scene. Jimin spends a few hours on the phone convincing his mother that he doesn't need his help in finding a girlfriend or boyfriend. He spends a few nights getting drinks with the guys at work. Jungkook comes along and drinks everyone underneath the table. The brothers ask Jimin for some smaller favors, like deliveries that go smoother with a police badge involved or hunting down small-time crooks that are trying to skip town.  
  
He tries to think of ways to properly set up Yoongi, what sort of evidence he'd need to magically produce out of thin air. His options are limited. He can't get into Yoongi's house without a warrant. The coroner's report is on file, so Jimin probably can't introduce a new murder weapon. He might be able to get it modified, though that will take some finesse, especially since they have the murder weapon filed as evidence. Jimin can't even connect Yoongi to Sihyuk yet. He could come up with a note of some kind, steal some stationary with Sihyuk's letterhead and write a fake note between Yoongi and Sihyuk. Maybe doctor a bit of footage outside the courthouse here and there. The big thing is that it'll need to pass muster with Jungkook. Once he establishes motive, he'll have to fabricate some kind of paper trail to the weapon, which will be difficult, but he knows a few of the back alley gun shop owners who won't be opposed to inserting a new record or two in their books.  
  
They nab one of Yoongi's lower level lieutenants, Woo Jiho, on trumped up drug possession charges, even if weed is mostly decriminalized these days. Jiho is one of the new guys, who hasn't been in the business very long. Rumor has it that Yoongi recruited quite a bit of his crew straight out of college, and Jiho is probably one of them. He's calm and collected and well-behaved as Jungkook tries to put the screws into him. He's usually pretty good at it, too, but Jiho never rises to the bait.  
  
"Are you sure that you saw Yoongi-ssi that night, Jiho?" he asks, his lips curled into a mocking smile.  
  
Jiho shrugs, slouching back in his chair. "I'm pretty sure he was at his usual table with Hoseok and Jin. It's hard to say. I'm usually playing darts. It's not like I keep track of every little thing he does."  
  
Jungkook doesn't back down. "Can you confirm that he didn't leave before eleven PM that night?"  
  
"Can you get me my lawyer first?" Jiho says.  
  
Jiho's lawyer is Yoongi's usual attack dog, Yoo Jeongyeon, who barely even has to snap her fingers before Jiho is walking out a free man on lack of evidence. Jimin doesn't hate her exactly, but she is a fucking pain in the ass. He understands that she's only so obnoxious because she's so good, but that doesn't mean he enjoys it when she shreds his cases to pieces and takes away his suspects.  
  
"Well, Yoongi's alibi is holding up, at least for now," Jungkook says. He doesn't look any more pleased about that fact than Jimin is, with his arms crossed over his chest and his foot tapping impatiently on the floor.  
  
"I guess it is," Jimin says, and he doesn't want to imagine Donghyuk's expression when he hears the news.  
  
*  
  
The Judge's murder seems to trigger something on both sides, and all of a sudden the homicide department has its hands full. First, the Chois retaliate by putting a bullet into the head of one of the cops who's been taking payments from Yoongi, and then one of the mayor's top aides meets an untimely death by the river. And those are just the bodies they find. The brothers are getting increasingly impatient with Jimin's lack of progress on the Sihyuk case, but they're also giving him more low-level grunt work to handle. They must be hard up for muscle if they're asking someone like Jimin to pick up the slack.  
  
Yoongi is stepping up his game, and if it wasn't before, it's now crystal clear that he's picking a fight with the Chois. Jimin would usually find something like that stupid, but Yoongi is being careful. He has been hitting the known Choi weak points for years: their incomplete control of the drug trade and their constant, neverending battles with the FKTU. Jimin knows a few people on Vice, and it sounds like Yoongi is putting out better quality product for a lower price, and he's got Jin going in and out of meetings with the unions all the time.  
  
But these past few weeks have been a direct challenge. Jimin knows this city's only big enough for one of them. If it was anyone else, Jimin would place his bets on the Chois, but with Yoongi, he's not so sure. If Yoongi does look like he's winning, Jimin will have to make some hard choices about whose side he's really on. He doesn't like the Chois enough to go down with them if that's the way things are headed.  
  
Then Taehyung calls Jimin up and tells him that he has news for him.  
  
Taehyung runs a club that's mostly a front for a backroom gambling den, and he's been very careful to maintain his neutrality by paying protection money to both Yoongi and the Chois. As a result, he gets all of the gossip across the city as soon as it happens. And he's willing to part with that gossip for the right price.  
  
When Jimin shows up, Taehyung is getting one of the bouncers to throw out a cheater. There's some literal throwing involved, but Jimin doesn't bother to step in. Taehyung's an old pro at this.  
  
It's late fall, and the air is crisp and cold, but Taehyung still insists that they talk outside. "It's time for a cigarette break anyway," he says, leading Jimin behind the dumpsters. Jimin first met Taehyung when he was called in to handle a fight that broke out at his club. No one died that night, but it was a close thing. Jimin was still a beat cop in those days, and Taehyung was still pretty young, just out of college with an art degree and without the cash or the desire to pursue anything else. The club ended up in his hands because the owner crossed some Russians and needed to skip out of town quickly. Taehyung took it over and made sure to keep the Russians happy and turned it into the sort of place that nearby college students visited on weekends. Or even weekdays.  
  
"You've got something for me, babe?" Jimin says, smiling and pulling his wool coat tighter around his shoulders.  
  
"You know I do." Taehyung grins like a shark. "Rumor has it that Namjoon froze their joint account." He pulls a cigarette out of his pack and lights it. Jimin does his best not to be jealous. His fingers twitch, and his mouth can almost taste the nicotine.  
  
"Wait, really?" Jimin says. "What did Yoongi do?" Yoongi's too smart and too careful to keep his money all in one place. It's hard to imagine that the closing of the account slowed him down one bit.  
  
It is easy, however, to imagine that Yoongi didn't react very well. From all accounts, Namjoon and Yoongi's relationship has never run particularly smoothly – Jimin barely even knows them, and even he hears about when they're not speaking to one another.  
  
Something like this could fuck up the careful balancing act between the factions in the city if it gets out that someone managed to get the drop on Yoongi, and Yoongi didn't do anything about it. Taehyung blows a cloud of smoke into Jimin's face. "What anyone would do in that situation. He kicked Namjoon to the curb."  
  
"Shit," Jimin says. "Do you think the Chois know about this yet?" They're getting desperate and angry these days. Yoongi has been outplaying them at every turn. He's been making important inroads with the police department, and most of the drug dealers on the streets are already starting to report directly to Hoseok. The brothers are going to see this one chink in Yoongi's armor, and they're going to pick at it with all they've got.  
  
Taehyung shrugs. "No idea. The news came from your side. I hate to say it, but they can gossip in a way that would put aunties and moms to shame."  
  
Jimin laughs. He's seen them do it more than once, too. They like to keep tabs on which ladyfriends the Choi brothers are courting these days. "Thanks." He holds out a stack of thousands.  
  
Taehyung kisses him on the cheek, lingering, and takes the money. "Anytime, babe," he says before he disappears back inside.  
  
*  
  
The brothers _do_ know about it.  
  
A few days later, Donghyuk calls Jimin at one AM. "We need you to do some babysitting for us," he says. His voice is tense, impatient. They're not fucking around here.  
  
"I'll be there," Jimin says and drags himself out of bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.  
  
The brothers still live in their parents' house, which is not that embarrassing if your house is a gorgeous brick building in the heart of Hongdae. It's not the largest around, but it's expensive and it looks like it. Not many people can afford an entire house in this part of town, but it's clear the Chois can. Mayor Choi (and by extension, his sons) conducts all of his unofficial business there. Jimin has never seen any of it past the first floor.  
  
Donghyuk greets him at the door. He's wiping his hands clean. His knuckles are bruised purple, but there doesn't seem to be any blood. His face is carefully controlled, angry but too proper to show it. The sleeves of his shirt have been rolled up. Jimin has spent more than enough time at the Choi mansion, to know where they're going to want him, but he still follows Donghyuk through the hallways.  
  
"Just make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. We don't want him hurting his pretty little head in there," Donghyuk says, as they get near to the room.  
  
It's a makeshift holding room. The door is wood, and there's a window. The walls are painted white, with a few exposed pipes. There's a bucket in one corner to piss in. In a rare moment of generosity, Seungho even brought in a mattress, though it's probably covered in fleas and bedbugs by now. The room is only good for one or two days at most. The Chois don't bother with anyone longer than that. Either you get out of the room alive and hurting, or you don't get out of it alive at all. Jimin has been put on babysitting duty before, which is mostly about making sure that whoever he's babysitting doesn't die of internal or external injuries before the brothers are done with them. It's also about making sure they don't get clever and concoct a way of escaping while the brothers are away, but that's mostly secondary.  
  
It doesn't surprise Jimin to see that the newest resident of the room is none other than Kim Namjoon, made newly single and an easy target for the brothers' anger. He's even wearing a nice suit, or what used to be a nice suit before the brothers got to him. There are bruises forming on one cheek, chafe marks on his wrists. A few buttons of his shirt have been torn off, and there's a rip in the collar of his suit. They must have grabbed him off the street.  
  
He looks up as Jimin opens the door. "You're here to play good cop, aren't you?" he says. His eyes are surprisingly sharp given what he just went through. Most people don't make it through one of the brothers' interrogations with their wits still about them.  
  
"No," Jimin says. "That's not why I'm here." He hands Namjoon a cup of water and stands back to watch him drink it. There will be food in the morning. Nothing too appetizing, but there will be food.  
  
Namjoon downs the entire cup in one long gulp. His eyes never leave Jimin's face. "You're not going to win, you know that right?" Namjoon says. "Yoongi can – Yoongi is going to tear you apart." His voice is flat, like he's stating a fact. Jimin has been working with the Chois to know what it sounds like when someone is rationalizing. Namjoon isn't rationalizing right now.  
  
Jimin shrugs. "That'll have to wait," he says. Namjoon looks like he's fine, mostly lucid. Donghyuk went easy this time around. Jimin hands over a towel, careful to maintain the distance between them. Jimin's trained and healthy and in good shape and not bleeding out all over the floor, but he doesn't have the same size or strength as the brothers. If he's not careful, Namjoon could get the drop on him in the right circumstances. It's not likely, but Jimin's good at keeping an eye out for possible threats. After one of his early run-ins with a junkie as a beat cop, Jimin has learned not to underestimate the sorts of things people can and will do out of desperation.  
  
"Do you like it?" Namjoon asks.  
  
"Like what?" Jimin asks.  
  
"Working for them. Playing their game." Namjoon takes the ice pack Jimin offers and presses it against his face. He slumps against the wall.  
  
"It's the only game in town. You know that even better than I do." There's only so far you can get without playing along.  
  
Namjoon laughs. It's not a pleasant laugh. "I'm beginning to see that."  
  
*  
  
Jimin leaves the Choi house as soon as Seungho arrives in the morning, cracking his knuckles and stretching out his neck, ready for another day of fucking people up. Jimin's not a huge fan of punching people – it's rough on the knuckles – but the brothers seem to like it. Jimin's never had to sit in on one of their interrogations, but he's seen the aftermath more times than he can count.  
  
He gets called in again to babysit after after work. There are fresh bruises on Namjoon's cheeks, and his nose is bleeding profusely. Jimin hands over a box of tissues and an ice pack.  
  
Namjoon gives Jimin a level look, as calm as he was last night. "Doesn't matter what Yoongi is going to do you," he says. "I'm going to do worse." Jimin doesn't intimidate easily, not after staring down some of the worst cold-blooded killers out there, but he can see the conviction on Namjoon's face.  
  
And the funny thing is that Jimin actually believes him. There's something in the set of his jaw, the darkness of his eyes. Jimin is at least willing to believe that he's going to try. "You know he's not any better than them, right?" Jimin asks. He's seen Yoongi's work, after all. He's seen the dead bodies, the drugs on the street. He's heard the things people say about him, half-awe, half-fear.  
  
"He's not the one who beat the shit out of me though." Namjoon leans back, ice pack pressed against his face. "You know, there were times when I thought that Yoongi couldn't – that it wasn't possible that he'd be involved. But that was stupid of me, right?"  
  
Jimin doesn't have anything to say to that.  



	2. Chapter 2

In the morning, when Jimin goes in to check on him, Namjoon is already awake. It looks like he's healing up nicely. His nose isn't bleeding anymore, and the bruises are yellowing.  
  
Jimin's still thinking about what he said. Namjoon's a lot sharper than Jimin's ever given him credit for, whatever the rumors might say. Change coming on, a tidal shift in the waters. There's a cold war on the streets of Seoul, and Jimin's pretty sure most people are waiting it out, trying to see who's going to come out the winner.  
  
He thinks about what Namjoon said about Yoongi coming to tear them apart. He just might be right about that.  
  
"You again," Namjoon says as Jimin steps inside. "Your bosses done with me yet?" He sneers, and Jimin can see that his teeth are stained brown with dried blood. He's sitting on the mattress, back pressed up against the wall.  
  
"Yeah, for now," Jimin says. He waits one moment, then two, resolving himself to his decision. Then he steps out of the doorway, an arm outstretched. "After you."  
  
Namjoon doesn't get up immediately. He watches Jimin with careful eyes, clearly wary. Smart guy. "Where are we going?" he asks.  
  
"Home. For you, anyway," Jimin says.  
  
Namjoon stands up and takes a step to towards the door. He keeps an eye on Jimin the entire time, but Jimin doesn't make any sudden movements. He's sincere about the offer, after all. Namjoon limps slightly the entire way to the car, and Jimin has to give him his own wool coat so that he doesn't freeze outside in the early November morning. He doesn't know what Yoongi is going to do when they get there, whether this means that they're going to dump his body in the Han River or they'll give him a pat on the back. But he figures that at least this way, he'll have something that will give him five minutes to explain himself. Yoongi could use a guy like him. Jimin just needs to sell it to him.

Namjoon remains quiet while Jimin drives, but when they're crossing the river, Namjoon stares out of the window at the deep blue of the water and asks, "Do the Chois know you're doing this?"  
  
Jimin snorts, speeding after the turn. "No, they don't," he says.  
  
Namjoon's gaze never leaves him the remainder of the drive, but to his credit, doesn't ask why.  
  
*  
  
They're greeted at the door to Yoongi's house by Hoseok, who ushers Namjoon inside with one hand and holds a gun to Jimin's head with another.  
  
"Good to see you again, Detective Park," Hoseok says. They had a run-in two years ago when Jimin took him in for routine questioning. Hoseok had treated it like a joke, smirking, making idiotic comments about Jimin's suit and tie. It had been a bad day – the brothers were getting impatient with some of the work he was doing, and the commissioner was feeling pressure from the higher-ups and transferring that stress all the way down – and Jimin had decided that it made a lot more sense to whack Hoseok's head against the table a few times whenever Hoseok was being particularly smug.  
  
"I need to talk to Yoongi," Jimin says, holding his hands up and trying to look as non-threatening as possible. He's pretty sure the only reason he's alive right now is that Hoseok thinks he's not worth the effort. And also because he doesn't want to get blood all over Yoongi's doorstep.  
  
Hoseok sneers. It doesn't look like an expression that belongs on his face. "I don't care what you need," he says. "What the fuck did you assholes do to Joon-ah?" His eyes are narrowed, dangerous. He's too far away for Jimin to attempt to disarm him.  
  
Namjoon is slumped against the far wall, like all of his bravado from earlier is draining out of him. "'Seok, don't – Detective Park was the one who got me out of there. I'd probably still be in that fucking room if it wasn't for him." Hoseok relaxes, just a bit, but he doesn't look any less skeptical.  
  
"I'm guessing the brothers wanted to know whatever Namjoon knows about Yoongi's set up. I wasn't there for most of it." It's do or die, Jimin thinks. Either he'll convince them or he won't.  
  
A new voice speaks up. "So what are you doing here now?" It's Yoongi, appearing in the doorway. He's dressed in a suit this time, an ugly one that doesn't sit quite well on his shoulders. There's something almost unnaturally still about the way he's carrying himself, from the straightness of his back to the lack of movement in his eyebrows. His eyes flick to Namjoon, and a quick expression passes over his face. Namjoon's face is a whole riot of expressions, half-masked by the bruises. He doesn't stop staring at Yoongi. Then Yoongi's attention turns back to Jimin. "Jin-hyung, get Namjoon to see a doctor," he says to the inside of the house.  
  
"I figured I'd bring him back as a token of goodwill," Jimin says, speaking to Yoongi and keeping an eye on Hoseok. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Jin lead Namjoon further inside, a tight hand on Namjoon's back.  
  
"And why would you do that?" Yoongi says. He's not tall and he's not broad and he's not carrying a firearm. There's really no reason that Jimin's tongue should tie up and and his palms should go sweaty.  
  
"I want to work for you instead. Double agent, lackey, whatever you need." He doesn't back down from Yoongi's stare, but it's a close thing.  
  
"You've already flipped on the Chois. Why should we trust you now?" That's Hoseok. Yoongi hasn't looked away, not once, his eyes fixed on Jimin's face like he can read all his secrets.  
  
Jimin says, "I'm an opportunist. I go where the power is. Right now, you've got them running scared, and I want to know that I'll have a place once the dust settles. As long as you guys stay on top, I'll stay with you." It's the truth as far as it goes. Jimin doesn't feel any loyalty to the Chois. They're no better and no worse than Yoongi, and Jimin wants to come out of this with his head still attached.  
  
Yoongi blinks, and something on his face shifts, but Jimin can't pick out what it means. "How is he?" Yoongi says, and it's clear he's talking about Namjoon.  
  
"I didn't get a chance to check him over that closely. They didn't want him dead. They wanted him alive enough and coherent enough to tell them what they wanted to know. Well, mostly." Jimin does his best not to visibly wince at that statement. Hoseok doesn't look any closer to blowing Jimin's brain out, which is good.  
  
Yoongi nods. "It's fine, Hoseok." Hoseok lowers his weapon, but he doesn't look pleased to be doing so. Yoongi continues, "The next time they ask you to do something, let us know what it is. Hoseok will give you information on how to contact us."  
  
And then Yoongi disappears as abruptly as he showed up.  
  
*  
  
The brothers are not pleased to find out that Namjoon has escaped, but Hoseok gave Jimin enough bruises and scratches to make it look convincing enough for government work. It's pretty obvious that they weren't getting any useful information out of Namjoon anyway, and they were only about a day away from killing him and chucking the body into the river as it was. The two of them aren't very patient when it comes to uncooperative hostages.  
  
The first assignment Jimin gets after he realigns his priorities is a simple shakedown of a pawnshop owner in Gangseo for protection money. Jimin gets the word to Hoseok by going through a newspaper and circling certain words on page five, then handing off the newspaper to a particular odeng vendor who sets up every morning a few blocks away from the police station. It's some real complicated spy games shit, ("Over-engineered," Hoseok mutters under his breath.) but Jimin gets it. This is the first time his loyalties have ever had to be hidden.  
  
Nothing eventful happens when he visits the pawnbroker. Jimin gets in, gets the money, gets out. He thinks he sees a tail watching his back when he gets out onto the street again, one of Yoongi's lower level lackeys. Jimin's seen him at Taehyung's a few times.  
  
Apparently Jimin passes the first test, because Hoseok doesn't show up to put a bullet in his head in the middle of the night, and he ends up getting these odd jobs, nothing major, nothing that would give anything away if he were to turn around and give all the information to the next person in line.  
  
Winter nips at their heels as it always does, swift and relentless. The snow piles up next to the streets, and it's hard to tell people apart, since they all become shapeless lumps in their wool coats and hats. The police find another two bodies, Choi men, face down in a street in Dongdaemun after a blizzard, their blood staining the snow around them red. The coroner makes a comment about wonderfully preserved they are. It's probably a message of some kind, a sign of things to come, but Jimin doesn't get paid to worry about that.  
  
The brothers don't put any pressure on Jimin regarding the Sihyuk case. They've got their hands full with other things. Some reporters have been demanding updates about the police's progress, but all Jimin can say is that it's believed to be gang-related violence and leave it at that.  
  
Jimin runs into Yoongi himself one night at Taehyung's place. Jimin likes to stop by when he's off-duty and doesn't want to deal with the rowdy energy of one of the backroom gambling dens that the Chois control. Taehyung runs a fairly small ship, neat and tidy and with pretty good music, and Jimin finds it a lot more soothing.  
  
Yoongi is dressed like any college guy coming off the street, just a t-shirt and jeans and a zip-up hoodie. Namjoon is with him at one of the tables, not quite as dressed down, but dressed down more than Jimin's ever seen him. (Which, granted, isn't much at all.) They're talking with low voices, not quite touching each other. There's a tension there, in the way Yoongi is holding his shoulders and the way Namjoon is grimacing throughout the conversation. The cuts and bruises have faded from Namjoon's face, but there are other things there that haven't entirely healed. Jimin files that thought away. He plays a few rounds of poker with some of the regulars, a lot of them old geezers who couldn't give a fuck about who's running what these days. "It'll all blow over in the end, kid," they like to say. "Just don't get too caught up in all of it."  
  
There's no huge dramatic scene, but halfway through the night, Namjoon leaves without Yoongi in tow, and Yoongi sits there for a few minutes, his expression still blank and unchanging, before he leaves afterwards. Jimin turns back to his game, accepts the beer Taehyung hands him.  
  
He thinks about Yoongi and Namjoon, plotting their revenge. It's a brave new world they're going to be living in. Jimin just hopes he's ready for it.  
  
*  
  
Being a double agent is a fuckton of work.  
  
He has to balance his job, with Jungkook being Jungkook the entire way through, against whatever the brothers ask him to do, against whatever Yoongi needs him to do in secret. Jimin has never had much of a private life. He usually enjoys being a cop too much to stop just because he's off the clock, but now he's working fifteen hour days under a lot of fucking pressure. He understands those famous police dramas a lot better now.  
  
It's understandable that when March rolls around, he's forgotten that it's an election year. No one really gives much of a shit about local elections, anyway, since the outcome is always known in advance. The only real question these days is which of the brothers is going to be mayor after their father steps down.  
  
Jimin is deep in a set of case notes when he hears Jungkook say, "You've got to be shitting me."  
  
He's watching the news. Someone is holding a press conference. The person at the microphone is saying, "I believe in the potential of this city. I believe that this city is worth the effort. So without taking up any more of your time, I would like to announce my candidacy for mayor of the metropolitan of Seoul. Thank you and good night."  
  
It's Namjoon, looking polished and smooth, smiling and charming. So far removed from the angry, beaten mess Jimin sat with in his car. "Did he –" Jimin says. Yoongi isn't on stage with the rest of Namjoon's entourage, but Seokjin is, standing in the back as poker faced as the rest of them.  
  
"Yeah, he did," Jungkook says. The expression on Jimin's face must match the one on his. Wide-eyed, incredulous. At most, there's usually a token opposition for mayor, someone who knows they're not going to win and makes so little effort that they might as well not try in the first place. But if someone like Namjoon is stepping up to the plate with Yoongi's tacit backing, then it must be a serious bid.  
  
"Shit," Jimin says.  
  
*  
  
"What the fuck is this?" Seungho yells. He's pacing the tiny office he shares with Donghyuk, and Jimin is watching them from the far corner. It's difficult to squeeze all three of them into the office, but they manage it. The brothers have an official occupation at City Hall, but no one except maybe the people who write their paychecks knows what it is. Jimin is here, because he's the only person in the Chois circle, outside of the brothers themselves, to spend any significant amount of time around Namjoon.  
  
Donghyuk is calmer. "It's not a big deal. He's never going to win." He's reading the newspaper. There's a story about it on page two about Namjoon, mostly canned soundbites. He apparently hadn't thought about running until his old friend Kim Seokjin suggested it to him, and he mentions that he feels like, "Seoul has given so much to me, and I'd like to give back to it."  
  
"Yoongi never would have let him run if he wasn't sure that he could win," Seungho says, running a hand through his hair.  
  
"That doesn't mean he will. Yoongi doesn't understand this city half as well as Dad does." Donghyuk leans back in his chair. "Quite frankly, I'm surprised he ever agreed to do it. He's definitely a better pick than Yoongi himself, but I would have figured that Seokjin would be less flighty about it."  
  
Jimin thinks back to the way Namjoon had looked back in the makeshift cell, with his face covered in bruises and his eyes glaring daggers into Jimin's head. Namjoon isn't going to let himself be flighty about this.  
  
Jimin doesn't mention that. "Yeah, Jin would have been a much better choice," he agrees.  
  
"Namjoon's not a real threat," Donghyuk continues. "At best he's a distraction while Yoongi tries to lock down Gwangjin." It's not an entirely unreasonable theory. Yoongi has been in the process of slowly uprooting a great deal of the Chois' primary sources of income. He's nearly managed to shove them out of the entire western half of the city. Seoul is so fractured that controlling all of it is nearly impossible, but the Chois managed it by conquering it one neighborhood at a time. The HSS still owns the north, and some Russians still own south, but they both still report to Mayor Choi in the end. It looks like Yoongi is aiming to pull off a repeat.  
  
"Jimin, you should keep an eye on this situation," Seungho says. "We'll need ammo if we want to take him down. If Namjoon so much as shits funny, we want to know about it."  
  
Jimin shrugs. "Sure thing."  
  
*  
  
Ironically enough, Namjoon is running on a platform of reform.  
  
"Seoul has been under the grip of the same people who would bring it low, who would drag it through the dirt. I want a better future for us. I want to see us rise above," Namjoon says at a speech in front of the Nowon district firehouse. Yoongi's men are in the crowd, keeping an eye on things, and Jimin is here ostensibly to watch Namjoon in action and then report back to the brothers. Jimin is really here because he's sort of curious as to what Yoongi and Namjoon have cooked up. They're not going to tell Jimin what their long game is, so Jimin is going to have to figure it out for himself.  
  
The title of mayor won't mean a lot if they can't clean out the rest of City Hall as well. Mayor Choi runs his government as a secondary arm of his business empire, and that means that there's at least one person at every level who's loyal to him, especially after sixteen years in office. They wont take the transition very well. But maybe becoming mayor isn't the point. Maybe the point is that this is going to hit the Chois right where it hurts: their pride.  
  
Outside, after the speech, Jimin watches dazedly as Namjoon shakes hands and kisses babies. He's winning over the crowd, it seems. Jiho passes by and slips Jimin a note, his instructions for the rest of the week. It's just information-gathering, as always. They probably still don't trust him enough to give him any real assignments. Jimin doesn't blame them.  
  
The brothers are in the process of trying to figure out all of Yoongi's weak spots, which supply lines are easy to disrupt, which people are already on the verge of turning on him. The problem is that Yoongi runs a tight ship, on a level of paranoia that the brothers probably can't comprehend. Jimin doesn't bother to tell them that.  
  
As the campaigning draws on, everything gets more tense. Yoongi is up to something, because quite a few local businesses are ponying up cash for Namjoon's war chest. _The Hankyoreh_ , the newspaper that's endorsed Mayor Choi for the last four elections has suddenly decided that Namjoon's "youth, political savvy, and enthusiasm are what our city needs right now." It reads a lot like Jin wrote it for them. _The Korea Herald_ remains wishy-washy on the matter.  
  
Mayor Choi is not pleased to be dealing with an upstart, and his displeasure seems to be radiating all the way down the ranks. The brothers are on edge. Every week, it seems like another group has decided to back Namjoon, despite his complete lack of experience. Yoongi donates a few billion won to the local school district, a move that garners him praise and a few pats on the back, and some of that goodwill gets reflected onto Namjoon, even if they're not acknowledged to be partners. Jimin isn't sure they even are partners these days, but they still play at being friends in public. A few gossip blogs are all over the fact that Namjoon is apparently single. Every time he's asked about it, he says that he's not willing to talk about it.  
  
"You know which way my vote is going," Taehyung says as he watches the news anchors discuss the latest poll numbers. He crosses his arms and leans back against the bar. His expression is thoughtful and focused. Jimin is pretty sure he and Namjoon had a thing at some point, but he has no idea how that happened, and he's not sure he wants to ask.  
  
"I doubt it will matter in the end," Jimin says. He's pretty sure Yoongi and Namjoon are playing to win.  
  
Taehyung laughs, teeth showing. There's a graph on screen that shows Namjoon's numbers climbing steadily higher. "You're probably right about that," he says.  
  
*  
  
"If he wants a fight, we'll give him a fucking fight," Seungho says.  
  
There's an invitation sitting on his desk, dressed up, pretty, with inlaid gold foil and cursive script.  
  
You are cordially invited to:  
Dock 43  
Tuesday night 10PM  
  
It's not something Yoongi would do. For all his skill at fucking people over, he's not one to be dramatic about it. This has Namjoon's fingerprints all over it. Jimin turns the invitation over in his hands, trying to see if there's anything hidden inside the card stock. There's a slight bump near an embossed bullet design. A bug possibly. Maybe they're trying to verify the information Jimin is feeding them by other means.  
  
"It could be a trap," Donghyuk muses. "We're the last things sitting in his way." He taps his fingers idly on the disk, an uneven rhythm, like he's lost in thought.  
  
Seungho smirks. "It's not going to be a trap if we outnumber and outgun him." He pulls out a map of the docks from his suitcase and spreads it out on top of Donghyuk's desk, inspecting it. Jimin knows the area a lot better than they do, since he's the one who has to deal with shipping problems whenever they arise. Seungho makes an impatient gesture, and Jimin steps closer, looking over his Seungho's shoulder.  
  
"They're going to bring their own firepower," Jimin says. "You're going to want these entrances covered." He points out three places on the map, and Seungho circles them with a thick Sharpie.  
  
Donghyuk looks over the marks. "Where else?" he asks.  
  
Jimin points out the most likely meeting places, makes suggestions about Yoongi's best strategies in an area like this. He's always liked this part, the part where he gets to look at the big picture and see how everything could play out. He doesn't really want to go along with the brothers to the docks, but they insist, and Jimin knows better than to turn down a direct order to their face.  
  
At the end of the night, Jimin suggests that it might be a good idea for him to double check the positions of various shipping containers, and they hand over the map without asking questions. It's really too easy, sometimes.  
  
"You're a busy beaver tonight," Jungkook says. It's late, and he's holding what must be his third cup of coffee in the last two hours. Another two deaths due to gang-related violence this week, and it's hard to give a shit when you know who's responsible, but there's nothing you can do about it. Sometimes Jimin wonders how Jungkook does it, day after day. He actually believes that things can change, that he can change them. Jimin wonders what it must be like to have someone like himself as a partner, someone who doesn't draw the same lines he does.  
  
He's still standing by the department scanner, waiting as the image slowly resolves itself onscreen. He'll need to wipe the computer later, do his best to hide the fact that he sent it at all. "I have things to do," he says.  
  
Jungkook snorts. "I know, hyung," he says, "Whatever they are, good luck."  
  
*  
  
Tuesday night, the brothers refuse to let Jimin back out of going down to the docks with them. The last place Jimin wants to be is in the middle of a firefight – or even just an intense pissing match between Yoongi and the brothers – but he knows that it'll be suspicious if he doesn't go.  
  
The brothers have about twenty men on their team, and Seungho shows them the map and spreads them out. Five guys to back up the brothers and cover the meeting area and three guys for each of the other positions. It's a dark, moonless night. Jimin rubs his hands together and squints his eyes.  
  
There's a spot near the water that's the most logical place to meet, and Jimin leads them to it, weaving between the containers and trying to keep an eye out for Yoongi's men. He doesn't spot anything. All he can hear is the sounds of their own footsteps on the pavement, the mutters and the whispers of their men.  
  
Yoongi is waiting for them in a clearing near the shipping office, hands shoved into the pockets of his coat, the water gleaming at his back. Hoseok is at his side, one hand lingering underneath his arm, near his holster. Jiho is standing right behind them, arms folded over his chest, but that's it, just the three of them. If Jimin was the kind of person to admire reckless assholery, he'd admire Yoongi's balls for showing up without an entire fucking army. There's a ring of three cars behind them, engines and lights still on. It makes it difficult to read anyone's face.  
  
Donghyuk steps forward, smiles, spreads his arms out in greeting. "Fancy meeting you out here, Yoongi-ssi," he says. He's got a captive audience, and he knows it.  
  
Yoongi's lips twitch upwards at the corner, and then, in the otherwise quiet night, they can hear a few shouts, a few shots fired. A showdown between Yoongi's men and the Choi's. It's not clear who won. Donghyuk narrows his eyes and grits his teeth at the sound of it, but he keeps his cool. Seungho snorts like he can't believe Yoongi's even making the effort. "I wanted to make a deal," Yoongi says. "We both know that the escalating level of violence is costly for both of us, so cut the shit. We'll let you keep your own section of the city, maybe Gangseo, in exchange for a truce." It's cold enough outside that his breath is visible in the night air. His eyes don't give anything away.  
  
Seungho snorts and rolls his eyes. "Fuck you. You've got nothing. Everyone is going to figure out that Namjoon's just your puppet and they're going to turn on him so fast he won't know what hit him. Did you know that he's really pretty when he screams?"  
  
A flicker of shadow passes over Yoongi's face, but then it passes. "You're wrong," he says, tone flat. "You're not going to win this."  
  
"You don't get it, Yoongi. We're going to fuck you up," Seungho says stepping forward, pointing a finger at his face, "especially after what you did to Uncle Sihyuk."  
  
"Judge Sihyuk got exactly what he deserved," Yoongi says without so much as blinking. "And so will you." He pauses. "You really shouldn't have gone after Joon-ah." Jimin is almost sad that he doesn't have a wire on him right now, even if he did switch sides halfway through the investigation into Judge Sihyuk's death. Jungkook would be thrilled to have a confession from Yoongi himself. Jimin really hated that case, but he's always happy to learn that he was right all along. He doesn't even care that he won't be able to close the case. Well, unless Yoongi knows some other schmuck he'd like to pin it on.  
  
There's the sound of guns cocking behind them, and the brothers turn to see some of Yoongi's men pointing guns at them from behind. "We're good," one of Yoongi's men says. "We took out all the other ones as well."  
  
"Good," Yoongi says with a tight nod. He turns to focus on the brothers. "Are you willing to listen now?"  
  
There's a commotion behind him, and Namjoon himself steps out from one of the cars. He's angry and trying to hide it and not doing a very good job of it. He storms over to where they're gathered, shoulders square, eyes straight ahead.  
  
Yoongi blinks, turn, and says, "I thought I told you to stay in the car." The barest beginnings of a frown are crossing his face. Namjoon ignores him.  
  
Namjoon goes right up into Seungho's face and stares him down. "I don't care what kind of deal you cut with Yoongi. I can't wait to laugh you and your father out of office." Next to Seungho, Namjoon looks like a tall toothpick, and Jimin almost steps in. He's certain that Namjoon's just going to get his face bashed in again.  
  
"You fucking –" Seungho snarls as he lunges forward. Namjoon manages to dodge to the side, out of the way.  
  
Hoseok is fast on the draw, and Seungho gets a bullet in the thigh. He crumples immediately, screaming in pain. The sound of it echos in the otherwise quiet night, and the remaining Choi men tense up, afraid to react with guns still aimed at their back. A stillness settles over the proceedings, everyone frozen in place, waiting for the next shoe to drop. None of the other Choi men show up, which must mean that Yoongi's men weren't lying about clearing them out.  
  
Donghyuk furrows his brow, and he says, "Wait, why aren't there more –" He turns to look at Jimin, and Jimin knows that Donghyuk has puzzled it all out. "You –"  
  
Jimin draws his gun, fires off a quick shot, and Donghyuk goes down, blood spurting from a gaping hole his chest and soaking through his white dress shirt. Jimin turns and squeezes out another shot, catching Seungho in the forehead. Yoongi's men open fire, and the rest of the brothers' men go down.  
  
"Well," Hoseok says after the dust settles. "I guess this answers the question of what side you're on." He reholsters his gun.  
  
Jimin shrugs as Yoongi watches him with steady, unblinking eyes. "I told you. As long as you're winning, I'm on your side."  
  
Namjoon looks a little sick as he stares down at the bodies. He keeps swallowing like he's trying to force down bile. Jimin realizes a second too late that this must be the first time he's actually seen mob violence on this level. Maybe this is even the first time he's seen a dead body outside of the carefully taxidermied things you see at funerals. But then the anger crosses his face again. "Fuck them," he says, more to himself than anyone else. "Seriously, fuck them."  
  
Yoongi comes up behind him, wraps an arm behind his shoulders. "C'mon, Joon-ah," he says, and Jimin swears he can hear warmth in his tone. Namjoon curls into his touch and lets him lead him back to their car.  
  
Jimin sighs and turns back to look at the carnage. Yoongi's men are in the process of moving the bodies and washing away the blood. They're doing a good job of it, but he knows if he wants this crime scene to be spotless, he'll need to help out with the cleanup himself.  



	3. Chapter 3

The mayor is, of course, livid that his sons are dead. He tries to bury his grief in his anger, publicly announcing that there will be a full police investigation while fighting back tears. Jimin, ironically enough, is put on the task force to find the brothers' killers. Yoongi's men were thorough, and no one can pin their murders on Jimin, especially since a good chunk of the other investigators are also on Yoongi's payroll. Being a part of the investigation is like being paid to take a few days off. Mayor Choi gets a slight bump in the polls due to his very public grief, but then someone leaks footage of Seungho shooting an argumentative lackey while Donghyuk looks on. The bump disappears rapidly after that, though some people commenting on the race talk about how it was clearly the Namjoon camp running a smear campaign. No one can prove it, though, since the video was posted anonymously among the boards. No one can argue with the contents of the video either.

When Jungkook first hears the news of the brothers' deaths, he shakes his head. "Can't say I'm surprised."

"Yeah," Jimin says from where he's hunched over his desk. He rubs his forehead in an attempt to force away his headache. He's been dealing with disgusting amounts of paperwork for days.

"I'm sorry, hyung," he says as he sorts through some old cases. "I know they were friends of yours. Sort of, anyway."

Jimin thinks of the sneer on Seungho's face the last time he said he couldn't do a job because it was Chuseok, and he needed to spend the week with his parents. He says, "Not that close. But thanks, 'kook."

It becomes clear that the Choi organization is rendered powerless, ineffectual. The brothers were high enough up in the structure that they aren't easily replaceable, and everything is falling apart due to the power vacuum. Too many people are jockeying for the same positions. Jimin isn't around to see all of it play out, but he knows that everyone else is smelling the blood in the water, same as him. Yoongi takes advantage of that fact, and soon enough, he's talking directly to a lot of Mayor Choi's cronies and old friends. It doesn't hurt that Jimin gives him as many names as he knows.

Yoongi's influence spreads across Seoul like wildfire. It was an inevitability before, and the death of the Choi brothers just hurries it along faster. Jimin gets more jobs, more responsibilities, but it's clear that they're keeping him at a distance. Jimin doesn't mind. His commissioner gives him a promotion for no apparent reason. He and Taehyung have gone out once or twice outside of their regular smoke breaks and information exchange. Jimin's mom insists that if he doesn't bring a nice girl (or boy) home with him soon, she's going to start setting him up with the pretty daughters of her bookclub friends.

Seoul quiets down again. Jimin can feel the change in the atmosphere, the way things are settling down now that the war is over. The Russians and the Hwan Song Sung Pa both seem content to broker their own peace with Yoongi, and as long as everyone is cooperating with Yoongi, he seems happy to let things run as normal.

Namjoon managed to be charming and well-spoken from the beginning, but he transforms into an even more compelling candidate over the course of the summer, getting fired up during his speeches and travelling all over Seoul in an attempt to win people over. In May, he comes clean about his sexuality and the fact that he's been dating Min Yoongi for years. "I didn't want to start off my campaign politicizing it. I didn't want it to get in the way of discussing the issues," he says when he's interviewed by the local news channel, smile stretched wide across his face. "It was Yoongi's idea in the first place. He's been very supportive of my choices, and he didn't want to stand in the way of my career. But I didn't want to have to dodge the question when it comes up. I don't mind telling the whole world how much he means to me."

Jimin is having drinks in The Henz with Jeongyeon when that interview comes on, and Jeongyeon snort-laughs into her vodka for an entire minute. "I have no idea where Jin comes up with this stuff," she says, wiping the tears from her eyes. Jimin has discovered that Jeongyeon a lot more fun when she's not trying to fuck one of your cases over. They meet every once in a while to bitch about working for someone as psychotically workaholic and demanding as Yoongi. Jimin's mostly just glad he doesn't get the brunt of it.

"They are fucking again, right?" Jimin asks, eyebrow raised. He's not as good as keeping track of the gossip like Taehyung is, but it does pay to be informed. Besides, he's started harboring a sort of kinship with Namjoon. They both escaped from the Chois together, in a sense. Jimin isn't so ruthless that he can't appreciate a thing like that.

Jeongyeon rolls her eyes. "Yeah, they are. Who knows how long it will last this time."

Jimin watches the expression on Namjoon's face as he talks about Yoongi, the way it makes his eyes light up, makes his smile seem brighter. Jimin says, "I'm sure they'll live a long and happy life together."

That sets off another round of giggles from Jeongyeon, who almost chokes on her drink at one point. "If they don't manage to kill each other first," she says between hacking coughs.

The next day, Yoongi donates a few more millions of won to the local schools, and at least one more million to musical organizations for disenfranchised kids. At one of Namjoon's rallies, he kisses Yoongi's cheek before he goes up to the podium to give his speech.

If Jimin was more of a romantic, he'd probably find it sweet.

*

"With sixty percent of the polling districts reporting in, we can now project that Kim Namjoon will win this election with fifty-three percent of all votes. The incumbent mayor, Mayor Choi, has only managed to win over forty-four percent of all voters."

The stool Jimin is sitting on at Taehyung's is not very comfortable, but Taehyung is wiping down the bar, and the place is quiet even with the TV announcing election results. It's early in the night yet. The regulars haven't shown up, and the students seem to be watching the election results from their homes and dorm rooms. Jimin's not up for a lot of excitement tonight, to tell the truth. He's in a nostalgic mood.

It was a foregone conclusion that Namjoon would win, especially with Yoongi's influence behind him, but it's still different, watching it play out. Jimin wonders what the victory speech will be like.

"It's the end of an era," Taehyung says. He fills two wineglasses with his favorite red, and then he blasts _Won't Get Fooled Again_ over the club's speakers. He smiles at Jimin, sweet and a little wicked, just like he always is.

"The king is dead. Long live the king," Jimin shouts over the music. He takes one of the glasses and holds it up. Taehyung holds up his own.

Their glasses clink together.


End file.
